Feasibility study of a novel membrane reactor for syngas production: Part 1: Experimental study of O 2 permeation through perovskite membranes under reducing and non-reducing atmospheres

Abstract

In this contribution, the feasibility of a novel membrane reactor for energy efficient syngas production is investigated by means of an experimental and a simulation study. In Part 1, a detailed experimental study is performed on the O 2 permeation through a perovskite membrane with composition (LaCa)(CoFe)O 3− δ for different operating conditions. In these experiments, non-reducing and reducing gasses were used as sweeping gas and also the flow rate, the composition of the sweeping gas, the membrane thickness and the temperature were varied. It was found that the O 2 permeation flux was greatly enhanced when sweeping with reducing gasses and also a higher temperature or a thinner membrane resulted in higher O 2 permeation rates. For both non-reducing and reducing gasses, the O 2 permeation flux was controlled by bulk diffusion and could be described with the Wagner equation. Furthermore, when sweeping with CO or H 2, it was found that the local O 2 partial pressure, which determines the O 2 permeation rate, could be calculated from the local equilibrium constants of the CO and H 2 combustion reactions. In Part 2, the derived permeation expressions will be used to study the feasibility of a novel Reverse Flow Catalytic Membrane Reactor concept for energy efficient syngas production.